In the never-ending battle against card fraud, a leading converter in Italy, Eurolabel, is supplying one major phone card issuer with cards protected by HolographINK, which combines ink, foil, and UV curing. The process is being used to overcome a major scam popular with thieves: reading the preprinted authentication code on the card.

Launched in 2005 by XSYS Print Solutions, patent-pending HolographINK provides eye-catching holographic effects without the need to print on an expensive holographic material. Following standard printing with XSYS UV flexo inks, the cards are patch-overprinted on top of the code with a HolographINK hologram, which renders the code invisible, even to laser readers.

Conversion speeds average 80 mpm, and the converter delivers optimal security without the high costs usually associated with holography.

The HolographINK process reportedly can create, on press, countless holographic colors and patterns, giving fine detail and accurate positioning on the print substrate. Excellent image bond may be achieved on a broad choice of materials including polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyvinyl chloride, unsupported and in a self-adhesive laminate; heat-sensitive films; many papers; cartonboard; and plastic tube laminates.

In response to customer demand, the manufacturer has expanded the number of “standard” holographic patterns offered in a choice of colors. These “wallpaper” holographic effects are useful secondary authentication devices, and they can contribute to enhanced esthetics of the label or package, the company adds.

For rigorous security labeling applications, XSYS offers a “library” of ready-to-use holographic images that the company will license, with guaranteed exclusivity, to a single end-user company, effectively replicating the traditional hologram and its functionality.